Friday, April 1, 2011

4/1 Squeezed, Stretched and Webernized Beethoven

Well, being that today is April Fool's Day, I feel somewhat less inhibited than normal to post some of my more outlandish Beethoven "experiments"...

Last week, while working on my exotic percussion version of the 32 Variations in C minor WoO.80, I accidentally mapped the midi pitch data from the drum tracks to the guitar track, and when I replayed the sound file I thought...hmmmm, very "Webernian". Anyways, beyond the technical stuff, this is not "12-tone" in any way that is on purpose - it's just a bit of "chance-generated" fun and I'm pretty sure it would fool my mother if I told her it was by Webern...
An Atonal Variation on Beethoven's 32 Variations on an Original Theme
(Acoustic Guitar and Percussion Soundfonts)
Visuals by Malinowsky MAM Player

If Beethoven was Reborn as Webern

Another little oddity I put together is this ridiculously sped up version of the Moonlight Sonata.  I actually prefer the Moonlight Sonata to be played as slowly as possible, but increasing the speed to 1500 beats per minute and changing the sound to "guitar harmonics" yields something that might have come from the episode of Star Trek where the aliens were living at super-fast speed.
Moonlight Sonata at 1500 BPM on Guitar

Moonlight Sonata at 1500 BPM on Guitar

On the other end of the "time" spectrum is this version of the 9th Symphony.  A composer decided to digitally stretch out the 9th Symphony to the length of 24 hours.  The pitches all remain the same - but the durations of each note are lengthened proportionately so that the entire work (normally 75 minutes) is stretched to 24 hours. Here's a sampling, uploaded to Youtube by YT-er .

Duckieforever says: "The music is astounding, and ethreal, and beautiful. I just can't really say it any other way besides that. It's not like anything that I've ever heard in my life. But, for once, I think that after hearing the music rendered this way, I understand it more completly. It may not be what any of you enjoy, but I just ask that you open your minds, take a small breath, and relax."

A Total Beethoven Experience

For more on this work and accounts from attendees of a "performance" of this 24 hour version, check out the below link where you can find a Radiolab Radio podcast about it. (Direct mp3 link HERE)
Time - Radiolab

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